Google Chromebook Pixel (2015) Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
Google's second-generation showpiece is the most dazzling Chromebook you can buy (except for the even more expensive Core i7 model) and one of the most dazzling laptops, period. But is Chrome OS' simple appeal worth $999? Read More…

The new Pixel has everything, from a sleek, swank aluminum case with no visible screws to a sharper-than-Retina touch screen and two USB Type C ports—the cutting-edge, high-bandwidth, miniature ports that debuted on Apple's recently announced (but not yet shipped) new MacBook.

It's got a fifth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, teamed with an ample 8GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard flash storage—like all Chromebooks, it assumes you'll save virtually all of your documents and files to the cloud, where Pixel owners get 1TB of Google Drive storage free for three years.

Like all Chromebooks, it has all the benefits of Chrome OS—seamless, automatic upgrades; virtually no malware headaches; a friendly, one-click-install app store; and an impressive and growing library of apps that run as browser tabs (or, sometimes, in their own windows), led by Gmail, Google Docs, and Microsoft Office Online.

And like all Chromebooks, it has the disadvantages of Chrome OS—a shortage of specialized and serious multimedia content creation apps; awkward Web-based printing; and an Achilles' heel of reduced functionality when offline, with no Wi-Fi hotspot within reach. You can use Google Docs and a number of other apps offline, but the vast majority need a Web connection.

People have been willing to accept this tradeoff with $199 and $249 Chromebooks, or even $329 (the Toshiba Chromebook 2, arguably our favorite) or $379 (the Dell Chromebook 11 i3, the fastest we've tested until now) models. But $999? That's messed up, unreasonable, a non-starter no matter how great the hardware is.

Or is it? Hmm. Maybe we don't have a first-rate intelligence after all.

Design

With its silver-gray aluminum lid and keyboard deck and black keys, the 2015 Chromebook Pixel resembles a slightly sharper-edged Apple MacBook Pro, an 8.8 by 11.7 by 0.6-inch slab. It feels solid but not hefty at 3.3 pounds. The rounded screen hinge appended to the rear edge is easy to open and wobble-free during touch-screen operations.

Instead of the Chrome logo seen on other Chromebook lids, the Pixel has a four-color LED strip or light bar near the center front. Tap twice on the closed lid, and the bar illuminates to show how much battery charge you have left, a wicked cool feature. A fair-sized black bezel surrounds the screen, which lies behind edge-to-edge glass.

The keyboard follows the standard Chrome layout, with a search key replacing Caps Lock and a top row of brightness, volume, and browser controls instead of function keys. As with the Mac, there are no Home, End, PgUp, or PgDn keys; Alt+Up is PgUp and Ctrl+Alt+Up is Home. A two-finger tap on the touch pad or screen is the equivalent of a right click.

The keyboard's backlight activates automatically based on ambient brightness and whether your hands are near the keys. The keyboard has an excellent typing feel, with adequate travel and crisp response; our only complaint was occasionally tapping the power button when we wanted Backspace, but since you need to hold down the button to log out or shut down the system, it was no harm, no foul. The etched glass touch pad feels silky smooth and responds instantly to gestures such as two-finger scrolling. (It doesn't permit pinch to zoom, but the touch screen does.)

Features

Chrome OS doesn't particularly call for touch the way Windows 8 does, but the Pixel's touch screen responds smoothly and precisely. Much better than poking at it, however, is looking at it: The 12.85-inch display offers a sunny 400 nits of brightness. (We stick to the top two or three backlight settings with most laptops, but the Pixel was so bright we turned it down halfway.) You'll see inky blacks and vivid colors from any viewing angle.

Its 2,560x1,700 resolution yields a squarer, Web-page-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio instead of today's common 16:9. Its 239 pixels per inch narrowly top the Retina MacBook Pro's, making text look crystal clear and images razor-sharp. The 720p Webcam above the display, designed for Google+ Hangouts video chats, takes dim but not grainy video.

As for connectivity, there's a USB Type C port—whose miniature connector has no right side up or upside down—on either side. Out of the box, the only thing you'll use the new ports for is plugging in the AC adapter, which charges the Chromebook quickly—Google says 15 minutes' charge is good for two hours' use.

Google sells dongles or adapters to connect an HDMI or DisplayPort monitor ($40 each) or existing USB drives and peripherals ($13), but you probably won't need the latter adapter since, unlike the new MacBook, the Pixel also provides two USB 3.0 ports, as well as an SD card slot and a headphone/microphone jack. Wireless connections are handled by dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

You have 180 days after unpacking the Pixel and signing in with your Google Account to redeem the 1TB of Google Drive storage, which is good for three years (a $360 value). Bloatware is nonexistent; the warranty is a standard one-year affair.

Table of Contents

Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)

Our Verdict:
Google's second-generation showpiece is the most dazzling Chromebook you can buy (except for the even more expensive Core i7 model) and one of the most dazzling laptops, period. But is Chrome OS' simple appeal worth $999?

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